Ruth Ashley (Betty Compson) is a former escort girl who now owns the Hollywood Escort Bureau in Los Angeles together with Gregory Stone (Wheeler Oakman). Ruth is co-owner of the Café Martinique, where the escorts go with their dates to watch striptease and drink champagne. The escort bureau is managed by Breeze Nolan (Guy Kingsford ) who provides customers with both male and female escorts.
Ruth has a daughter, June Ashley (Margaret Marquis), who is ignorant of her mother's occupation. June believes that her mother works in real estate. Ruth had sent her daughter to a private school in the eastern U.S. Eventually June is engaged to Drake Hamilton (Robert Kellard, as Bob Kellard) and when Drake travels to Los Angeles for work, June decides to accompany him to meet her mother. At the same time, Ruth and her partner learn that the district attorney is planning to put an end to illegal escort services. Since her daughter is coming to town, Ruth is concerned that the truth will come out about her business. She grows more worried when she discovers that Drake is in Los Angeles to assist the district attorney in stopping all escort operations.
In the line of duty Drake pretends to be a prospective client and calls the bureau to book a girl for the evening. His plan is to lay a trap for the bureau owners. But Stone learns from a snitch that Drake is investigating, and instead of sending a regular girl, he sends June to Drake's hotel room at the specified time. Drake ends up believing that June works as an escort girl and breaks their engagement. June is devastated and blames Stone for what happened. She threatens to go to the DA. To stop her and exculpate himself, Stone reveals that Ruth is his partner. He tries to hire June as an escort girl after plying her with drinks.
Since Nolan is the face of the escort business, Drake finds him and beats him up, heartbroken because of what he thought about June. Drake learns that Stone is the owner. When Ruth arrives at Stone's apartment, June is still there. June renounces her mother and leaves. Ruth learns what happened and tells Stone to reveal the truth to Drake, threatening to shoot him. Drake arrives, walking in on Ruth holding Stone at gunpoint. He tries to overpower her, and as they struggle for the gun, Ruth is accidentally shot and fatally wounded. As the struggle continues between Stone and Drake, Stone falls out a window and breaks his neck. With her last words, Ruth tells Drake the truth, and he promises to take care of June. Ruth dies, and Drake and June reconcile happily.
A 1941 American Black & White crime drama film (a/k/a "Scarlet Virgin") directed by Edward Kaye, produced by J. D. Kendis, written by David Halpern & Ann Halpern, cinematography by Jack Greenhalgh, starring Betty Compson, Margaret Marquis, Robert Kellard, Wheeler Oakman, Guy Kingsford, Gay Seabrook, Isabelle LaMal, Arthur Housman and Rick Vallin. First screen appearance of Cyd Charisse (uncredited) as a Flamenco Dancer. Final screen appearances of ay Seabrook and Arthur Housman. Produced & distributed by the independent company Continental Pictures.
A chance to see former silent screen great Betty Compson in a later years role (her mid-40s). Betty Compson (1897 - 1974), born Eleanor Luicime Compson, was an American actress and film producer who got her start during Hollywood's silent era. While playing in vaudeville sketches with touring circuits, Compson got noticed by Hollywood producers. Best known for her performances in Josef von Sternberg's "The Docks of New York" (1928), and "The Barker" (1928), the latter of which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality B-Movies, though some set trends, attract critical attention, become historically important, and even gain a cult following. Exploitation films of the 1930s and 1940s evaded the strict censorship and scrutiny of the era by claiming to be educational. They were generally cautionary tales about the alleged dangers of premarital sexual intercourse and the use of recreational drugs. An early example, the film "Ecstasy" (1933) included nude scenes featuring the Austrian actress Hedy Lamarr. The film proved popular at the box office but caused concern for the American cinema trade association, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA). The organization, which applied the Hays Code for film censorship, also disapproved of the work of Dwain Esper, the director responsible for exploitation movies such as "Marihuana" (1936), and "Maniac" (1934).
This classic seedy expose of the "Escort Girl" racket is a slickly made routine exploitation quickie punctuated with a very risqué striptease scene that really has nothing to do with the film. Lacking appeal except for fans of camp and those wanting a few unintentional laughs, and no more.
29 сен 2024
